Similarities between the independence referendum and the Ryder Cup extend beyond both taking place in Scotland in September. Month after month of shadow boxing in each ensure legitimate excitement whenever something meaningful happens.

Tuesday is the significant golfing day. With Wentworth as the backdrop, Paul McGinley will name his three wildcard picks for Europe. Later in the day, Tom Watson will do likewise for the United States during a live television show in New York. The box office appeal of the Ryder Cup has increased with each passing event.

McGinley claimed to want a sprint finish to fill his team and has been handed precisely that. The Irishman is suddenly faced with a more testing scenario than previously looked the case. McGinley has a simple choice: to back experience or form, or a mix of the two.

Of those outside Europe’s automatic berths, Ian Poulter is the sole figure guaranteed a pick. His heroics at Medinah typified a love affair with this event, which seems to inspire those around him, inside and outside the ropes.

Beyond Poulter, the supposedly safety first approach of McGinley would be to pick Luke Donald and Lee Westwood. That scenario, though, would trigger an element of criticism towards the captain owing to the collective lack of form of his three selections. It would be folly, surely, to completely ignore seasonal results in a Ryder Cup context.

For now, Westwood has the stronger claim. The 41-year-old has occasionally been scathing about the state of his own game in recent times but has still managed to be prominent on the big stage. Westwood was seventh at the Masters, tied sixth at the Players Championship and earned a top 20 place at the final major of the year, the US PGA Championship.

Westwood’s value in a team room is well known. When last picked as a wildcard, in 2006, Westwood did not lose a match. He is surely destined to be a Ryder Cup captain one day.

Donald’s case is borne out by history. Donald’s Ryder Cup record is highly impressive – he has lost four points in 15 matches – and he is especially useful in foursomes, although Westwood is a point ahead of his compatriot in that format.

Donald is the only European to have been on winning teams in his first four Ryder Cups, a successful record matched only by his prominence in the amateur’s Walker Cup. For all Nick Faldo’s mistakes, the absence of Donald through injury at the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla was regarded by many observers as Europe’s biggest problem.

Too many of these matters are of the past tense, however. Since undergoing a swing change under the guidance of Chuck Cook, Donald’s results show a player struggling to find his way. Donald missed the cut at the Masters – where he opened with a 79 – and US Open this year. He tied for 64th at the Open Championship and for 40th at the US PGA. Even Donald’s accuracy and short game wizardry, key aspects of his game, have routinely let him down. To his credit, Donald has never shouted about his Ryder Cup hopes, as wounding as missing out would be to him.

The obvious question is where McGinley will turn next, should he regard a Poulter-Donald-Westwood trio as an unnecessary gamble. Stephen Gallacher heads the queue, with the Scot taking to the Italian Open in a last-ditch bid to earn an automatic Ryder Cup berth. He must finish in the top two on Sunday in Turin.

Contrary to popular belief, Gallacher should not be selected simply to ensure Scottish representation in European colours. Such tokenism is unnecessary. Rather, Gallacher’s consistency and past record on the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles – he was in a playoff there last year – are significant.

Gallacher’s detractors will point towards putting troubles and an inability to cement his place as one of the game’s leading players when featuring in PGA Tour events on the other side of the Atlantic. Gallacher, being blunt, has also been afforded the same qualification chances as everyone else and is yet to move into the top nine spots.

Beyond Gallacher, only Francesco Molinari and Joost Luiten look to have an outside chance of a nod from McGinley. Molinari was part of the victorious European teams in 2010 and 2012, thereby endorsing McGinley’s point that the Italian was “very much” on his mind this time around.

The favourites to earn a nod from Watson are Brandt Snedeker, Hunter Mahan and Keegan Bradley. A fourth call-up may yet be required if Jason Dufner confirms his inability to feature at Gleneagles because of a neck injury.

Tales of America’s demise are not only exaggerated but dangerous to the European cause. Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Jimmy Walker, Mahan and Snedeker earned prominent finishes at the US PGA Championship. History suggests that the enforced absence of Tiger Woods, while notable, will not be causing meaningful harm to Watson’s team.

With nothing to lose but everything to gain in Scotland, Watson and his players should not be written off as has commonly been the case.

The wider debate surrounds whether or not a US victory is required to stimulate the Ryder Cup. From 1995 onwards, United States teams have won twice, leading to speculation that the Ryder Cup has regressed into more of a formality than need be the case. Americans, after all, don’t tend to buy into sporting occasions they believe they have little chance of winning.

Yet with a couple of notable exceptions, and certainly on the past two occasions, the results have been close. We remain a long way short of the Ryder Cup losing appeal on the grounds of a standard European cakewalk, as McGinley well knows.

In Watson, McGinley will face a captain who receives routine adulation in Scotland. The galleries at Gleneagles will identify with Watson more readily than some of his players, which will provide an intriguing backdrop.

If McGinley has a fear, it could be that his playing record is starkly compared to that of Watson, who won eight majors during an illustrious career. The two are not in direct playing competition, however; McGinley has looked by far the more polished and clear-thinking captain during his extensive media duties.

The next of those arrives with the eyes of the golfing world upon McGinley and Watson on Tuesday. No points will be earned, but markers will finally have been laid down.